Where to run that brake cable
October 24th, 2006 by Tim GrahlI had done a couple quick rides on the newly built up Carver 96er but kept having a bit of trouble with the brake line. I am running RockShox Reba 29er forks with Avid mechanical brakes. I had already started to change it up before I remembered to take pictures… so this is what it looked like when I was having trouble.
I had two zip ties where the green arrows are pointing…
And this is the part of the brake line that kept popping out, which was causing all kinds of trouble…
Every time I would compress the suspension much it would yank that cable right out. So I had to run by the bike shop to pick up a couple things and I asked the mechanic and he said to never mount the cable line to a moving part of the bike. Doh! That makes complete sense!
I came home and undid it and started looking it over and sure enough, RockShox was way ahead of me. They already had a place to zip-tie the cable line to.
And this was the finished result. Tied to the top and run down the leg. I did a three hour ride today on the bike and never had anymore trouble.
So… when you are running that cable line, be sure not to tie your lines to moving parts on the bike!
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I love you Blue Collar Mountain Biking! I know where you can run that brake cable of yours.
Wow… not sure what to say to that…
I don’t wrench on my bike, but wasn’t the problem that you tied cable to things that move in relation to each other? The crown only rotates with respect to the frame, but the bottom half of the fork moves both in rotation and distance. Therefore if you simply cut the crown tie you would have also fixed the problem.
Maybe that’s what you said, but I don’t really get the “don’t tie your lines to the moving parts” statement. Certainly the bottom half of the fork is a moving part. Not moving like the wheel, but moving in rotation and the vertical plane. Honestly, all the parts of the bike are moving if you ride very far……
Right… the problem was I had the cable tied down to the crown of the fork that moved up and down in relation to the rest of the fork. So when the forks compressed the line would get pushed up through the zip-tie, then when the fork rebounded the zip-tie would hold onto the cable housing and pull it up and out of the brake.
So I tied the cable down to a part on the fork that didn’t move in relation to the rest of the fork/brake/wheel which means everything stays put even with the forks compressing.
Does that make any more sense or did I make it worse?
I was running my cable line exactly as you have it now (Reba fork/Avid brake). I learned a few days ago, at a slow speed thankfully, that it’s possible for the cable to get caught by the tire. In my case, a stick was sucked up just so to pull the cable down a bit and subsequently catching on the tire causing an instant endo. I am now running the cable line around the outside of the lower leg and the brake performs just as well.
I would think this setup has the danger of getting your brakeline caught on something in passing and having it rip up your rig or send you crashing.
Seems either way has it’s risks or benefits.
I have a similar fork (Reba Race ‘06, 26″). RS includes a cable housing holder that sticks to the front of the arch. The housing slides into it and the supplied zip tie wraps around it, the fitted housing, the arch and is located by the nubs on the back of the arch as shown in your photos. This way the housing never touches the arch (no rub marks) and is routed very neat and clean. SRAMs website should have a pdf for all the small parts / accessories, with the right part #. But you should have gotten it in the original packaging. Its just a small piece of plastic about 1/2″ long. Email me if you need a photo, if my description is not clear enough.
Running the housing on the outside of the left fork leg is smarter. I think you’ll find that most fork mfrs would prefer and recommend that method.
It also puts a less sharp curve in the cable housing, which means less friction, which means the cable disc caliper feels more hydraulic-like. And that’s a big bonus to anyone who’s ridden hydros and sometimes dislikes the switch to the mechs.